Of Pen and PaperGino Bermudez

Why do we write?

History shows how prevalent and essential writing is in the world.

In the 19th Century Philippines, Jose Rizal wrote Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo: two novels showing the oppression the Spanish colonizers brought to the Filipino natives. One could say that these books were the rough rocks the indios rubbed against that sparked and ignited the rebellion that allowed the autonomy of the Philippines to be lived. On the other side of the world, 17th Century, William Shakespeare was busy making the scripts for the next drama he would perform with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men to the populace of England. One could imagine Julius Caesar uttering “Et tu Brute?” on a small outdoor stage for the English audience, exposing the wickedness of authority, conspiracy, and assassination. Shakespeare mustered up these words from the air around him and turned simple stimulation into sonnets, comedies, and tragedies that move and influence human hearts. Rizal and Shakespeare are only but a few of the quintessential intellectual writers of history that prove how important writing has been in the world.

But the question still stands firm. Why do Rizal, Shakespeare, and the world in general write?

Imagine yourself as a caveman. You find yourself stumbling upon a round smooth surfaced rock. And as you bump into the rock, you see it rolling quite a distance before it comes to a halt. An ingenious idea comes to your mind. No need to carry gigantic slabs of wood or that massive boar you just killed as your tribe’s meal for a week anymore. You have found out about the wheel. But how do you share this to your fellow cavemen and to the future cavemen in your area? Communication. In a time where no formal language was set, communicating ideas and thoughts was very problematic. So out of frustration that nobody could understand what you have to say, you press against your cave walls and began drawing your wheel and all the functions it is capable of doing. Your finger traces four wheels arranged in a certain way where you could balance slabs of wood on top of them and that boar you just killed on top of it, allowing you to transport massive things easily. You have solved your problems. You have communicated your thoughts without spoken word.

This is writing – the bridge between minds of humans, allowing the traffic of ideas and thoughts; the one thing that separates homo sapiens from primates and other animals. Writing is what makes us human. Writing has developed from simple communication of ideas to the expression of one’s self, to the appreciation of the world, and to the fulfillment of human intellectual capabilities. Writing is both intellectual and expression. Writing is innately human.

We are human.

We write because we are.